Why is there a white boy on the cover of this book? ( )

Guerrilla soldiers destroy Santiago's Guatemalan village and murder most of his family. Santiago and his four-year-old sister Angelina escape, running for their lives. But the only way they can be truly safe is to leave Guatemala behind forever. Santiago and Angelina follow the directions of their dying uncle Ramos and make their way to Lake Izabal, where they find his sea kayak he built while planning his own escape . The two children sail north towards America, facing the shark-infested open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, lack of food and water, and days of blistering heat and raging storms. Santiago and Angelina battle the elements as well as their own fears and desperate grief in this amazing tale of survival and hope of a new life in the United States. 6th grade and up. ( )

this is a really good book. ( )

I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspenseful survival stories. It makes you really want to keep reading the book. It is definetly one of my favorite books. :) ( )

Sailing the open sea in a kayak from Guatemala to the United States is an incredible adventure, but for 12 year old Santiago and his 4 year old sister, it is a fight to survive. After escaping the massacre and subsequent burning of their village to the safety of an uncle, and a quick sailing and navigation education, the two siblings begin their rough and dangerous journey. The two are plagued with blazing sun, storms, military patrol boats, near starvation and dehydration. Santiago is a responsible boy who remains sleep deprived in order to care for his sister and navigate the sea. After several weeks the two children land on the coast of Florida—weather-beaten and starving, but still hopeful for a bright future in the promised land that so many of their countrymen risked all to enter.

The story is fast-paced action/adventure which will hook student interest, and it deals with multicultural issues that many students connect with—like immigration, emigration, refugee status in a foreign country, and the moral and legal responsibilities that people of different nations, races, and religions have to one another. ( )